BOULDER — Greg Brown looked like the meteorologist searching for a way to prevent an approaching tidal wave. His hair was disheveled. Bags hung from his eyes. Colorado’s defensive coordinator has burned Exxon barrel-sized midnight oil plotting against the greatest college quarterback in a generation.

This week goes atop the week last year when Brown’s Arizona Wildcats faced Stanford’s Andrew Luck and got clobbered, 42-17. Forget all the questions about what Luck does well. Here’s a harder question for Brown: Has he found anything Luck doesn’t do well?

He would have been the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft last spring too. He chose to return to Stanford for another year — remember, he’s a fourth-year junior — and Brown learned something new that will make Saturday’s 5:30 p.m. road game an even bigger nightmare.

Luck is better.

It’s true. Talk to NFL scouts, opposing players and frazzled defensive coordinators and the player many said a year ago was the best college quarterback since John Elway is new and improved.

Forget the numbers. Sure, he has led seventh- ranked Stanford (4-0) to a nation-leading 12 consecutive victories, and his 11 TD passes vs. one interception help put him sixth nationally in pass efficiency.

Instead, listen to the praise he’s receiving:

• Colorado Jon Embree: “I told our team, ‘For those who won’t get an opportunity to play pro football, you’ll get an opportunity to see what it’s like to go against Peyton Manning.’ “

• UCLA senior safety Tony Dye: “I have never seen someone with that much football intelligence. He knows where you’re going to be in the defense before the snap.”

• ESPN football analyst Brock Huard: “In the 14 years since Peyton Manning made his mark in Knoxville for the Tennessee Volunteers, I have not seen a college quarterback measure up to Peyton’s standards and skill set — until now.”

Many cynics wondered how Luck could pass up millions after leading Stanford to a 12-1 record and a No. 4 ranking — its best season since 1940 — and finishing runner-up in the Heisman Trophy race.

Besides pursuing an architecture degree, Luck has constructed a strong QB foundation. He’s playing a bigger role in the offense, calling his own plays, and understands it as well as new coach David Shaw, his former offensive coordinator.

“He was phenomenal,” Shaw said after Luck’s calls led to two touchdowns in last Saturday’s 45-19 rout of UCLA. “His (calls) were a little better than mine.”

Many quarterbacks have come through with his 6-foot-4, 235-pound size, but few have had his intelligence. The son of Oliver Luck, a Rhodes Scholar finalist and ex-NFL quarterback, Andrew was class valedictorian.

On the field, believe it or not, Luck wanted a new challenge — as if playing college quarterback isn’t challenging enough.

“He really likes it,” Shaw said on the Pac-12 teleconference this week. “I knew for a long time that if you give a quarterback something he really loves, he tries to do his best at it because he wants that opportunity to come again.”

He will get that chance against a 1-4 Colorado team with converted cornerbacks still learning how to backpedal. UCLA couldn’t stop him. He hit 23-of-27 passes for 227 yards and three touchdowns.

Throw in Stanford’s balanced attack, which includes 197.5 rushing yards per game, and Luck is the biggest puzzle in college football.

“The thing that we’re seeing is how much he handles at the line of scrimmage,” UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said. “His ability to take this offense — and I know they give him a number of options — and get it in the right play. It’s his ability to be patient and his ability to put the ball in places where only his guys can make plays on it.”

Brown remembers a third-and-long last year when Arizona double-teamed a receiver on an 18-yard dig route, kind of a long button hook. When the receiver made his cut, the ball was right there, but the Wildcats were in front and behind him.

“We had a safety underneath him and his hands were open,” Brown said. “The ball goes right through. We had a corner behind him. And he put it on the money in that tight of a window. That’s impressive.”

It’s that accuracy that has fans of the NFL riffraff teams debating the merits of tanking the season for a chance to draft Luck No. 1. He doesn’t have the glossy numbers of spread offense quarterbacks, but Stanford’s pro-set attack gives him a running start to the NFL.

“He’s not just completing passes,” Rang said. “He throws to a receiver so the receiver is accelerating beyond the defensive back. (The receiver) won’t get the big hit and will get yards after the catch. It’s like he’s got another set of eyes.”

Brown’s eyes have already seen too much of Luck. There’s a good chance his defensive backs won’t believe their eyes.

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